On February 1, 2022, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted a Petition for Allowance of Appeal in GM Berkshire Hills LLC and GM Oberlin Berkshire Hills LLC v. Berks County Board of Assessment and Wilson School District, 16 MAP 2022. The issues are limited to the following:
a. Do a school district’s selective real estate tax assessment appeals violate the Uniformity Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution when the school district chooses only recently-sold properties for appeal, leaving most properties in the district at outdated base-year values?
b. Do a school district’s selective real estate tax assessment appeals violate the Uniformity Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution when the school district chooses only certain recently-sold properties that would generate a minimum amount of additional tax revenue for appeal, leaving most properties in the district at outdated base-year values?
It will be interesting to see what the Court does with these issues, especially in light of Chief Justice Saylor’s recent retirement and the addition of Justice Brobson. Chief Justice Saylor wrote the landmark Valley Forge Towers opinion in 2017 that gave property owners a leg to stand on when fighting the selection process of properties in school district initiated appeals. Justice Brobson is a Republican that is coming right from being the President Judge at Commonwealth Court, a court that has consistently sided with school district’s selection processes before and after Valley Forge Towers. Stay tuned to see how this one plays out.
